Added thread-feeding attachment for circular knitting machines



May 30, 1939. c. A. FENSTERMACH ER 2,160,614

ADDED THREAD-FEEDING ATTACHMENT FOR CIRCULAR KNI-TTING MACHINES.

' Filed Dec. 1-1, 1936 s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. (lg foil A. f'elmemacber ATTORNEYS y 30, 1939- c. A. FENSTERMACHER 2,160,614

ADDED THREAD-FEEDING ATTACHMENT FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Dec. 11, 1936 D s Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS y 30, 1939- c. A. FENSTERMACHER 6 ,6 4

. ADDED THREAD-FEEDING ATTACHMENT FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Dec. 11, 1956 S She etS-Sheet s INVENTOR. [/qyfan A. f'ensz emacfier A TTORNEYS Patented May 30, 1939 A oFFicE when THREAD-FEEDING armcnmm'r roa cinema xm'rrmc Clayton A. Fenstermacher, Reading, Pa.

to Schuylkill Hosie y Mills, Inc Reading MACHINES assignor a corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 11, 1936, Serial No. 115,337

This invention relates to circular knitting machines, and more particularly to a new and improved pattern-controlled guide-feeding attachment for introducing into selected courses during the knitting of a stocking or the like formed of a main or body thread or threads, of an'added thread or strand, preferably, for present purpose,

, of an elastic nature to form a garter area in the finished product; theprimary object of the prescut improvements being to provide a guide feed for such elastic strand that may be applied to a knitting machine equipped for producing known true-wrap vertical stripes or like ornamental designs of added embroidery thread or yarn. I

In ,producing such true-wrap vertical stripes,

the guides for the embroidery threads ordinarily overhang the circle of needles with their threads floating downwardly therefrom to their loop engagements in the knit fabric, and such depending floats have heretofore been recognized as preventing adding such elastic thread or strand desirably introduced into spaced courses of the main knitting due to entanglement of the elastic floats with such embroidery thread floats.

It is therefore an essential requirement, and one of the objects of the present improvements, to provide for feeding the elastic thread to the desired spaced courses with the necessary floats Y between such courses held. and maintained out of contact and free from entanglement with the striping threads, or any other main, or changed, or added thread or desirable to feed to the knitting needles. I

Another object is to feed the elastic thread or strand under a controlled tension and preferably to spaced ones only of the needles in each engaged course, so that retractionof the stretched elastic thread will draw together the engaged wales and effect a rib-like appearance of the plain-knit fabrics in such garter portion.

Other objects and advantages resulting in a novel and improved stocking construction will appear in-connection with the following specification describing in detail and in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part thereof,

the nature of the present improvements and the manner and method of operating the same to produce the desired stocking or like-knit tubular fabric. v

Referring to the accompanying drawings which disclose a preferred embodiment of the present improvements in connection with a circular kniting machine having a known striping attachment suchas that shown in Robinson United yarn ordinarily required or- 13. Claims. (Cl. 66-133) grammatic, and partly in vertical section, showing essential portions of a usual knitting machine having a striping attachment, and indicating a preferred embodiment of the present improvements appliedthereto.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, showing the feeding position for the rubber thread uide.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 isa cross-sectional view similar to that shown in Fig. 2, but indicating the rubber thread guide in non-feeding position.

Fig. 5 is a conventional flat folded side view of a stocking indicating diagrammatically theapplication thereto, of the. present improvements. v

The present inventio'n maybe applied to any usual type of circular knitting machine, and the one shown in the drawings embodies the main functional elements of the known Banner machine more fully shown and described in Lawson United States Patent No. 933,443 of September 7, 1909, as reference thereto will appear, and the construction and knitting operation of which is well understood and needs no detailed description for a full understanding of the present invention.

Parts of such known machine indicated in'the drawings, include the usual frame or stand i;

in a succession of circular courses and vertical wales as well understood showing or description. I

The striping attachment indicated asan at and needing no further tachment to the above machine is of the nature more fully described in the aforesaid Robinson patents, essential parts only being shown, and the operation of forming vertical stripes interknit with the stocking by wrapping embroidery threads around certain needles or groups of needles is as heretofore and fully described in detail in said Robinson patents as reference thereto will disclose.

Parts of such known Robinson striping attachment indicated in thedrawings include, a frame-carried standard l0, having an upper arm il supporting a depending shaft l2 centrally suspended over the needle cylinder 2. A sleeve shaft l5 on shaft I2 supports a-bobbin table l3 and table I] for thread guiding and tensioning means, not shown, and said tables are rotated in synchronization with needle cylinder 2 by .vertical shaft l8 suitably geared to the knitting machine drive mechanism and to table It as in said Robinthread guide fingers'20' son patents. A series of for the striping threads are pivotally mounted in notches 2| in a disc 22 mounted on shaft l2 and rotated with tables l6 and H by means of a bracket 23 secured to table I! engaging a bracket 24 secured to disc 22. A cam disc 25 operates the fingers '20 as set forth insaid Robinson patent to swing them radially across the circle of needles 3, and their thread carrying ends 28 are swung circumferentially of said circle of needles as reference to said Robinson patent will more fully describe. And the jacks 4, controlled from the pattern drum 21 on shaft 5, through levers 23 operate as heretofore to raise the desired needles into feeding position to receive the threads fed to and wrapped around them by the guide fingers 20.

The mechanisms above briefly described and indicated in the drawings, will produce,- as fully set forth in said referred to'patents'and well known in the art, knitted stockings having vertical true wrap stripes, pattern figures, clocks,

and the like in certain wales formed by the embroidery threads fed by the guide fingers 20 .to the needles determined by the pattern controlled selective action of the jacks 4. And such embroidery threads will float downwardly from their guides to theirlast engaged interknit looping in 'the main fabric. This floating extension of these embroidery threads will interfere with any usual feed of a continuous thread or yarn to the needles to form spaced courses of such added thread, as it will be readily seen that the floats for the lastengaged loop to any usual guide as one of the guide d of said Lawson Patent No. 933,443, would, during the needle cylinder rotation, extended across the latter and become entangled with the embroidery threads as will be clearly understood.

The present improvements provide means for feeding added thread to be engaged andinterknitpreferably in spaced circular courses, with the floats of said thread between-said courses, held out of possible entanglement with the above described embroidery threads; andthe particular embodiment of such'means shown in the drawings will now be described in detail.

The thread 30 indicated is preferably of a highly elastic nature such as latex or a like thread formed of a pure rubber strand or one having a known gimp covered rubber core, so as to have a garter action and support the stocking on the legof the wearer, and this thread '20 isshown as fed from a suitable supply cone or bobbin 3! through tensioning means 32' to a guide finger 32'movable into feeding and non-feeding position relative to the circle of needles 3.

. An arm 33 (Fig. 1) suitably supported above the frame table, fixedly carries aring plate 23 encircling the disc in which the guide'fingers 20 are pivotally mounted, said ring acting as a guide bearing for said disc whichis free to rotate therein. The plate 33 is shown as recessed to receive a rotatable ring or annulus 33, retained as by clip fingers 39, this ring also encircling disc 22 and is intermittently rotated with the latter as will later .herein appear.

Ring 33 has mounted thereon an arm 43 carrying bobbin 2| so the latter will travel or rotate with said ring, and guide finger 33 for thread 23 is carried by said ring, being secured in one end of a plate ll pivoted centrally at 42 to ring 33 and movable thereon to position finger 32 in able with said ring, as will later herein appear,

and its lower end will be then positioned outside the circle of needles 2 (Fig. 1) which latter in the present construction are rotating, and the needles, raised by the aforesaid pattern controlled jack means, will receive the thread 23. when the guide finger 22 is moved into notch 'of'disc ,22, its lower end will be inside the circle of needles 3, and finger 23 and ring 23 will then" rotate with disc 22, positioning the float of thread .23 in a midway vertical position between embroidery threads fed by striping fingers 20, where it will be out of any danger of entanglement with the latter.

To hold the finger 33 in engaging position with notch 24, and to insure rotation of ring 3'8 with disc 22 when the finger is so engaged,'the drawings show a notched plate 48 on disc plate 22, engageable by a catch plate 41, pivoted at 43 to ring 23. Plate ll is shown as actuated by a spring 33 to normally tend to move finger 23 into notch 32; and to move said finger reversely to the position shown in Pig. 2, the drawingsshow a vertically movable strike finger 5| mounted in a slide bearing 32 secured to ring plate 22 and tensioned by spring 32 to normally project said finger 3| upward into the path of travel of plate I when ring 23 is rotated. The end 34 of plate ll is camshaped, as shown, so that contact therewith' of finger ll, acts to turn said plate on its pivot 22' end 33 of catch plate 41 and turns the latter on its pivot 43 to withdraw its opposite end from notched plate It on disc 22: a latch 51 pivoted at 33 to catch plate" and tensioned by spring arm 33 engagin and holding a ainst back lash the raised strike finger Si in the hooked end 33 of catch plate 31. The parts are now in the position indicated in Fig. 2. and ring 33 is held at rest in ring 23. which is the thread feeding position for' fin er 32. while disc 22 rotates.

It will be seen from the above detailed description in connection with the drawings, that when strike finger 3| is in raised position, finger 33 will be moved and held outside the rotating circle of needles 3 so as to feed its thread-to raised needles selected by jacks 4; and that when finger 3| is lowered, spring 3|! will act to position guide finger in non-feeding position'in disc recess 24, and catch plate 41 will engage notched'plate 42 to cause ring 23 to rotate with disc 22. In this position guide 33 depends idly within the circle of needles 3'between two striping thread guides 23.

20, and thread 30 willremain in non-entangling' position between the threads fed by said guides 23,23. And it, is evident that by moving strike It is clear that by utilizing one of the levers 28, or an additional one for this particular purpose, selected jacks may be operated to raise their needles into a position to receive the thread ll from guide finger 33 when the latter is moved to feeding position, Fig. 2; and in Fig. 3 certain needles in are shown raised for this purpose, which needles may be every fourth one. as indicated or another selected arrangement. 'And to spring 50 to swing plate I on its pivot 42 to move strike finger ii, the drawings show an anular extension 60 from the lower end of said finger engaged by an arm ii at an end of rock 1 shaft 62, the connection of'arm 6| to extension 60 being provided by a stud screw 63 in the latter engaging an elongated aperture it in arm 6!. Rock shaft 62. is shown as mounted in bearing 85 secured to ring plate 36 and an extension 68 from standard l0, and the opposite end of shaft 62 is provided with a crank arm 81,. .A link rod l (Fig. 1) connects cam arm 61 to the end of a I lever H centrally pivoted at 12 to frame I and its other end 13 riding on a cam disc ll mounted upon and rotating with pattern shaft 5. The connection of link rod III to end of lever H is by means of a pin 15 .of said lever engaging in a slotted aperture 16 in link rod!!! so the latter may have imparted thereto a movement other than by said lever II. The bearing surface of cam disc ll is shaped to operate the, lever at the proper time to rock shaft 62 and lower strike finger i out of engagement with latch 51 and the hooked end 55 of catch plate 41 permitting move guide finger 33 from recess 43 in ring 38 (Fig. 2) to position in recess 44 in disc 22 (Fig. 4), this latter position being the normal position for finger 33, except in such portion of the fabric it is desired to add thread 30.

When feed of thread 30 is desired, a suitable low portion, as 11 of cam disc 14 permits lever II to turn freeing rock shaft 62 to turn, under ten sion of spring 53 of finger 5| and a spring 18 connecting link rod to'frame I, and this rocking of shaft 62 will cause finger 5! to rise into the path of travel and engage the cam end 54 of plate ll rotating with ring 38. In order to feed the thread 30 to spaced courses of the knitting without complicated construction of the cam surface of disc II, the drawings show provision for additionally rocking shaft 62 at desired intervals while lever end I3 ls-riding in low portion 11 of cam 14. spacing for the feeding of the thread 30, and advantage is taken of the known ratio of travel of gear 6 once to four rotations of needle cylinder 2, said gear being shown with a side 'cam track Bil-engaged by an anti-friction roller ill on a crank arm 82 of a rock shaft 82, an arm 84 on said shaft'extending across link rod I0 and engageable with a stud pin 85 on the latter to raise said rod 10 at eachsrotation of gear 6, slot 16 in the lower end of rod 10 permitting this movement when lever end 13 is engaging low por tion 11 of cam disc 14. This movement of link rod 10 at each fourth rotation of the needle-cylinder 2, will rock shaft 62 to raise finger 5| Lu act on plate 4! and move guide finger 32 to feeding position; said finger 5i being lowered at the end of a needle cylinder revolution and remaining lowered during the next three cylinder rota- Every fourth course is a desirabletions until gear cam Ill again causes rock shaft 03 to raise rod 10. v

Fig. 5 is a conventional showing of a stocking of usual plain knitting and is shown as having a series of vertical true wrap stripes 90' plated thereon with embroidery thread wrapped about selected needles bystriping guide fingers 20 in the manner set forthin said Robinson patents heretofore referred to. The upper end ill of this stocking is shown as having the elastic thread 30 interknit therewith on every fourth needle and in every fourth course, such elastic thread feed under tension as described causing the engaged wales to draw together giving a rib-knit appearance to the plain knitting producing this top. Horizontal stripes may be introduced into the stocking by change feed of thread or yarn by the usual main thread guide fingers in known manner.

From the foregoing description it is believed that the nature of the present improvements will be fully understood and the main object accomplished by introducing an added thread, preferably elastic as described to a portion of. the stocking to form a garter portion, such feed being accomplished in a stocking having true wrap vertical stripes ordinarily preventing the feed of such elastic thread, and that the elastic thread as introduced in the manner set forth will produce a stocking top having the appearance of a usual rib-knitted fabric though actually being of plain knitting.

While described as applied to a specific knitting machine having a known striping attachment, it will be apparent it may be applied to other known knitting machines and that the specific details set forth areintended as illustrations of a preferred embodiment and changes and modification may be made without departing from the invention as defined in the following claims.-

What I claim is:

1. In a knitting machine having a circle of needles and a relatively fixed striping thread carrier operatively mounted above the latter, a guide finger for an added thread mounted to move radially across the circle of needles, means including a swlngable plate mounted on said carrier ring for moving said finger independently of said striping thread carrier to a non-feeding position inside said circle of needles, and to a 'position outside the latter in feeding relation to all the needles of said circle, there being a fixed relation between said guide finger and needles when said guide finger is in non-feeding position, and a relation of relative rotation between said needles and guide finger in feeding position.

2. In a knitting machine having a rotatable circle of needles and a striping-thread carrier when the latter is mounted above and rotatable with said needles,

a guide finger for an added thread mounted-to move radially across the circle of needles, swingable finger-supporting means for moving said finger to a non-feeding position inside of and rotatable with said needles and striping'thzead er 0 a.

therefor mounted adiacent said striping-thread 76 striping-thread carrier,

cling said striping-thread carrier, means for moving said guide finger to a non-feeding position radially inside said circle of needles and for rotatably engaging said finger carrying ring and striping-thread carrier, and means for moving said guide finger to a feeding position outside said circle of needles in feeding relation to the latter and for disengaging said finger carrying ring from rotary engagement with said striping-thread carrier.

5. In combination with a knitting machine having a rotated circle of needles and a stripin threa'd attachment having a carrier for the striping-thread guide fingers mounted above and rotatable with said needles, means for feeding an added thread to said needles comprising, a fixed bearing above said needl a ringrotatably carried therein, a plate pivotally secured to said ring and carrying a guide finger for the added thread overhanging and radially movable across the cir-' cle of needles, means for moving said plate to rotatably engage said ring with said striping- I finger carrier and to non-feedingly p sition said added thread guide finger inside the needle circle, and means for moving said-plate to disengage said 'ring from said striping thread carrier and for positioning said added thread guide fin'ger in fixed position outside the needle circle in feeding relation to the latter.

6. In combination with a knitting machine having a rotated circle of knitting. needles and a striping-thread attachment having a carrier for the striping-thread guide fingers mounted above and rotatable with said. needles, means for feeding an added thread to said needles comprising, a fixed bearing above said needles, carried therein, a plate pivotally secured to said ring and carrying a guide finger for the added thread overhanging and radially movable across the circle of needles, means for normally moving said plate to swing its guide finger to a non-feeding position inside the circle of needles and to rotatably engage said ring with said striping finger carrier, and means for intermittently moving said plate to (1189 8 88 said ring from said striping finger carrier and to swing said guide finger to a fixed position outside the needle circle and in feeding relation to the latter. 7. In the construction set forth in claim 6, locking means for retainingly holding said plate in its engaged and disengaged positions relative to said striping-finger carrier.

8. In combination .with a knitting machine having a rotated circle of knitting needles and a striping-thread attachment having a carrier for the striping-thread guide fingers mounted abdve and rotatable with said needles, means for feeding an added thread to said needles comprising,

a fixed bearing above said needles, a ring rotatably carried therein, a plate pivotaliy secured a ring rotatably .to said ring and carrying a guide finger for the added-thread overhanging and radially movable across the circle of needles, means for normally moving said plate to swing its guide finger to'a non-feeding position inside the circle of needles and to rotatably engage said ring with said striping finger carrier, and a pattern-controlled strike finger intermittently operated for. moving said plate to disengage said ring from said striping finger carrier and for swinging said guide finger to a fixed position outside the needle circle and in feeding relation to the latter.

9. In the construction set forth in claim 8, a

knitting machine drive gear having means for actuating the plate engaging movements of said strike finger, and a pattern-control mechanism .for determining theoperation of said drive gear means. v

10. In a knitting machine having a rotated circle of knitting needles and a striping attachment for wrapping embroidery threads around selected needles, meansfor feeding an added elastic garter thread to be interknit in selected courses comprising, a guide finger for the elastic thread mounted to overhang and radially move across the circle of needles, and pattern controlled means for moving said guide fingers to non-feeding position inside the circle of needles and for rotating said finger with said needle, and means for moving said guide finger to a position outside said circle of needles in fixed feeding relation to the rotating needle circle.

11. In a knitting machine having a rotated circle of knitting needles and a striping attachment for wrapping embroidery threads around selected needles, means for feeding an added elastic garter thread to be interknit in selected courses comprising, aguide finger for the elastic thread mounted to over-hang and radially move across the circle of needles; biased means for moving said guide to non-feeding position inside the circle of needlesand for rotating it with the latter, a knitting machine drive gear operative for intermittently moving said guide to a position outside of said circle of needles in fixed feeding relation to the rotating needle 'cylinder, and a pattern drum mechanism controlling the operations of said drive gear.

12. In a knitting machine having a rotated circle of knitting needles, and a striping attachment having means for raising selected needlesto a feeding position and wrapping embroidery threadaround the same, means for feeding an added elastic garter thread to be interknit in spaced wales of spaced courses comprising, a guide finger for the elastic thread mounted to over swing radially across the circle of needles and normally rotated in non-feeding position inside the latter, pattern-controlled means for raising spaced needles into position to receive said elastic thread, and pattern-controlled mechanism operative during certain spaced'rotations of the needle cylinder for moving said elastic guide finger to a position outside the circle of needles in fixed feeding relation'to the spaced raised needles of the rotating circle.

13. In the construction set forth in claim 12, an elastic thread supply bobbin mounted to rotate with its guide finger, and a tensioning device for said elastic thread positioned between said supply bobbin and said guide finger.

' CLAYTON s. r'nrzs'rnmvmcrmn. 

